What happens if you lose your ID while traveling - how to fly.
 

We unfortunately needed to do some research on how our 19-year old son would be able to fly after losing his wallet on a family trip to Wyoming. After having no success trying to get information from UA (they said to use his passport and seemingly did not understand that both Wyoming and Massachusetts were part of US).

We had a friend email the front page of his passport to us in Wyoming. However, when we called the Jackson Hole police dept. to report wallet loss, they told us this would not be sufficient. What they told us they did all the time at Jackson Hole was that passenger needed to arrive "a little earlier than usual" and present themselves to counter person for airline. That person would then call over police stationed at airport who would run a criminal and ID check police dept-police dept. and decide if person was who was as stated. While the passport page, old board from first part of trip, baggage tags, etc. would not be sufficient, they would help police in deciding if person was eligible to fly.

Our son's wallet was eventually recovered. I have no reason to believe the procedure from police would work - but I am wondering how they can do this, since TSA is national and they were local police. What do others do if ID is lost or stolen while traveling?

This is a pet peeve of mine !
Nowadays when flying ( I am talking international here ) you have to not only 'show' your passport a multiple number of times but also hand it over a couple of times, the chances to loose, forget, mislay a passport is now very very high. On recent flights I has to show my ticket 3 times, my boarding pass a total of 4 times and passport a total of 5 times. ID/Security is one thing but as your case shows if you loose it there seems to be little if any sympathy at all.

It is not space science for the authorities to devise a simple plain white platsic c/card or 1/2 credit card size card with a magnetic data strip on the back, it shows no information at all to anyone but 'could' be read by airlines/authorities. This could be a spare back up with simple yet effective enough information, perhaps the data could include date of birth, just your initials ( no full name ), town and state and include 2 verification phone numbers or something, so if you loose your main passport/id then there is something that they can speedily use to identify you. They could also use the 'pin number' system as banks do, they run the card thru and then you have to put in your pin number, shows them ok/not ok. Someone may find/steal your card but without the pin number hopeless.

Another ideas I saw on another forum was someone suggesting a credit card size id/passport check card that contained a 'pin number', it works for credit/bank cards so it can work for ID too, they run the card in the machine and you click in your pin number, they ask you your name/ date of birth and it shows on their screen, dead simple.
More people than is realised across the world loose their passports and it is not a joke!

Forgot to add the concept of the 'bakc up/2nd card' is that you don't need to carry it with you, you can leave at your hotel or if 2 of you travel together you each keep eachothers 'bakc up card' so it you loose your wallet, someone steals from wherever the back up hopefully would not be in the same place.

gail - I think what you were told is correct. TSA will not let you through simply through your "story" about losing an ID and a photocopy of a travel document.

But it makes sense for one of the airline agent to call the local police department, who issued the police report for missing an ID. That proves to them you're at least serious enough to proof yourself at a police station and file a report for the loss.

I don't see why you find the answer suspicious. It seems very reasonable to me.

If your ID goes missing for any reason, you must make your way to a Police Station and file a report.You will be given a copy of the report usually the pink copy.Some states issue a Temporary ID at a cost of say $10.When filing the report you MUST indicate that your immediate plans include travel via commercial airline.What you are given will satisfy the government issued ID requirements to allow you thru security.

Can a photocopy of one's Passport help at all? I heard it can help at the U.S. Embassy in a foreign country.

It is not that I find the story suspicious - I just wondered about cross-jurisdictions. Upon doing further research on TSA website, it appears that it is up to airlines, not TSA to verify identity prior to flying - and there is, in fact, no federal law requiring ID for flying. So now it makes a little more sense, as the airline would likely prefer to pass the identity responsibility onto someone else.

And the Jackson PD said that filing a police report was useless unless we needed it for insurance purposes. As they said "You can tell us anything, it does not make it the truth". I imagine there are as many minute variations to what an individual airline and/or police department would require as there are airports.

Gail - I actually emailed TSA awhile ago when a question about a brides NEW last name had been made on flights but she wouldn't have ID with her new name on it until 6 weeks later. You are correct, TSA stated to me that they've given no requirements, just that the airlines/aiports must "ascertain the identity". I fail to see the reliability of this Police Dept to Police Dept communication. Unless one was well known, or notorious, I'm sure no one at the local PD could really vouch for one's identity anyway. If nothing else, it seems like they'd contact the home state DMV for a copy of the picture. I guess all this bending over backwards is just part of the zero tolerance (and zero-common sense) aspect of our airline (false) security systems of today.

What they told me was that they would take whatever information we could give them (such as same last name of fellow travelers, boarding pass from first leg of flight, luggage tags plus they would contact the home state Motor Vehicles agency and "compare characteristics" - I guess they are unable to electronically view license photo - as well as do a "fast criminal record check" - and then verify identification.

I agree, lots of loopholes here - I imagine our son would have passed this scrutiny, but wonder if older single traveler with any one of several ethnic origins might have been passed thru. And what if we were flying in such a way that he had to pass thru security more than once (like if he were making a stop-over somewhere).

As I mentioned, it all worked out fine for us - but started me wondering about all sorts of scenarios.